


Taking the long road home

by SansyFresh



Series: Angst and Stuff [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, But its impactful, Child Death, GlitchedDeath - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Its an unnamed human, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, angel au, hard angst, sorta?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:54:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21586438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SansyFresh/pseuds/SansyFresh
Summary: Reaper doesn't understand why Error hates his job so much. So, Error shows him.It involves a little too much innocent death for his liking.
Relationships: Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Series: Angst and Stuff [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1263086
Comments: 8
Kudos: 93





	Taking the long road home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yastaghr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yastaghr/gifts).



> hey there, and thanks for reading my fic ^^ just wanted to clear up some things~
> 
> -This is an Angel AU!  
> -This is Reaper/Error!  
> -A little girl dies in this!  
> -Please read the tags! Its really angsty!!!
> 
> enjoy ^^

Reaper had never really understood what it was the Angels of Penance’s jobs were. His own was something along the lines of actually escorting souls to their final resting place, be it the Underworld or the Skies Above. He was an Angel of Final Peace, meaning he usually took those who died too early in life to become anything that might have been a problem, or that were pure up until old age. He didn’t have to take souls on their final journey that often, seeing as how most humans and monsters were corrupt. 

But Error… Error was an Angel of Penance. He actually reaped the souls of those about to die, and delivered them to Reaper to take to their places. Error was the one angel that understood Reaper’s fascination with humans and monsters, who even shared that fascination with the customs and habits of those still living. 

He and Error were… not lovers, but something similarly intimate. They held each other when they were sad, they made each other laugh when they were down. They ate and drank together, and when times grew difficult, they held each other up. They had even defied their leaders before when something seemed off, when someone was doing something they shouldn’t have. They  _ trusted  _ each other with their very souls.

Which was why, when Error came back to the Skies Above with a sour look on his face and a darkness in his heart, Reaper found that he just didn’t understand. It was their time, the people who died, no matter how early or horrible it might be. 

So, one day, Reaper went to his friend and asked him. “Error, dear, why is it you hate reaping souls?”

Error stared back at him, black wings furling and unfurling in place as he thought. “I could show you why. It would be easier than explaining.” His voice crackled and broke in places, but Reaper had known him long enough to understand better than most.

“I would appreciate that.” he answered, holding out his hand. Error hesitated for a moment before taking it in his own, Reaper ignoring the way the fingers trembled. 

“Hold on tight…” Error mumbled before opening a portal to the World Below. Reaper followed him through it without preamble, taking note of the sterile white walls and scent of antiseptic that pervaded the room they’d stepped into. There were curtains surrounding what Reaper thought was a hospital bed, he’d never been in these human places very long. Error stepped through the curtain as though it wasn’t there, still holding Reaper’s hand as he followed along. 

There was indeed a bed, filled with the tiny, petite body of a little girl with pale skin. There were tube after tube hooked up to her arms and face, little beeps filling the room. Reaper felt his soul constrict at the sight of her, of the look of pale death in her eyes.

“Listen.” Error said, gesturing with his chin to the young woman who was sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking chair at the side of the bed. Reaper stepped forward, and listened as the mother, he assumed, began praying to the Star.

“I don’t know if you’re out there, I don’t know if you’re real, but I can’t lose her. Not after I’ve lost everything else. Please, please don’t take her from me.” She whimpered, tears streaming down her face as she began to sob. Reaper felt pity fill his soul, and he stepped forward to give the child a blessing, one that would surely stop whatever sickness was inside of her. 

Only, just as he took that step forward, Error was in front of him, strings summoned and wrapped around a tiny, stuttering soul. Reaper almost cried out in shock as Error tugged once, sure and simple, and the soul came loose from its mortal shell. The machines in the room began beeping shrilly, Reaper feeling as his sockets filled with tears before the world around them began to fade to black and white, Error pulling him through another portal back to their homeland. 

Reaper couldn’t take his eyelights off the soul still within Error’s grasp, his own soul pounding hard as Error brought the strings around, presenting him with the tiny little soul of a helpless girl.

“Here.” Error said, eyes dead in their sockets. Reaper didn’t understand, not at first, until Error gestured with his strings.

“Its your job to take care of her now, isn’t it? To take her to the Skies Above?” he asked, voice filled with something like venom, something like regret… something like sorrow. Reaper swallowed, then took the soul from Error’s strings, the small thing still beating with fear.

“Its okay little one, you’re safe now…” Reaper murmured, turning his back on his friend.

He thought he might understand a bit better now, why Error hated his job. Why he hated being an Angel of Death. 

Reaper was finding that he wasn’t sure he appreciated his own job much anymore, either.

“Reap?” a voice called from behind him. Reaper turned, soul still in his hands, only to find Error watching him with tears in his eyes. “Please take good care of her?”

Reaper could only nod, before turning and opening a portal to the Skies Above, where the little girl would live with whatever members of her family had been taken there themselves. She would never know the pain of life again, never share hardships with her peers, never know the ache of hunger and sickness.

Reaper still found himself wishing it hadn’t been her time. Wishing he’d stepped forward a moment sooner and given her the blessing of life. 

He wished he’d done a lot of things. But for now, his duty was to take souls to their final resting place. So that’s what he would do.

He did not think about Error’s tears, or what they would say to each other when they saw each other again. He didn’t think he could handle the pain of seeing it again.

But for Error? He would try.


End file.
